What does end of France’s Barkhane mission mean for Burkina Faso?

France has said its seven-year military operation in the Sahel will come to an end, indicating a troop drawdown and restructuring of its presence in the region.

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso – Boubacar Dialo* says he can recall French troops visiting his town of Tin-Akof only once, in December 2020. “They spent the whole day there touring the market,” says the local official of the northern Burkinabe town. “They came in an armoured vehicle and went into the shops. They went to the cattle market.” With a peacetime population of about 9,000, Tin-Akof sits on the banks of the Beli River where Burkina Faso’s frontier converges with those of Mali and Niger. The tri-borders, as the region is known, is at the epicentre of a years-long conflict between state forces in the western portion of Africa’s Sahel region and armed groups linked to ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda.